The invention discloses a method for preparing 4-cyclohexyl proline or a derivative or salt thereof. In the method, the 4-cyclohexyl proline or the derivative or the salt thereof is used as raw material. Rhodium carbon is adopted as a catalyst to obtain the 4-cyclohexyl proline or the derivative or the salt thereof through hydrogenation. The method has the advantages of small using amount of the catalyst, repeated application and convenient recovery of the catalyst, high yield, no racemization and good reproducibility and can be applied to industrialized manufacturing. In addition, as water can be adopted as solvent, the method is economic and safe and has the prominent advantages that the method is environment-friendly and favorable for clean production.